In the past year, the digital world has become the primary way to communicate with employees, clients, customers and followers. How are companies adapting their digital communications material?
Lockdown Lessons is a series dedicated to the lessons we have learnt from our clients during the COVID-19 pandemic (previous instalments here). For this article, we reflect on our work around transforming digital communications, focusing on Skynamo and Engine MHP + Mischief as illuminating case studies.
Skynamo is a field sales platform based in South Africa with worldwide operations. They produce software demonstrations but were finding the process time-consuming and received no legacy content from it. Their content was primarily static, taking the form of brochures, presentations, decks and so on. Previous attempts to record software demos led to unsatisfactory results.
Going into lockdown, Skynamo realised they needed to adapt to fit an online and video-first world. Within this situation, they saw an opportunity to push their strategy even further. Alongside having a less time-consuming process, they wanted to use their demos more freely and improve engagement from prospective clients. Professionally-produced demonstrations seemed the way forward.
To help Skynamo realise these goals, Blueprint Film turned its static content into animated video content. This had two effects. Firstly, it meant that Skynamo had much more dynamic and appealing content to distribute. In turn, this would help with engagement, messaging, dwell time and conversions. Secondly, it provided Skynamo with a bank of video content that could be cut up and repurposed for additional digital marketing content.
https://vimeo.com/477253988/ab9e5a294c
As another example, Skynamo had a brochure for recruitment that they would send out - a beautifully designed document. Using its assets, we turned this brochure into a 2-minute long creative video. It was a better fit for such a modern and vibrant company and showcased what makes working for them so attractive.
One key lesson gleaned from this experience is that you don't have to create new video and marketing content from scratch. Looking at what you already do (software demos) and already have (presentations, brochures, etc.) can give you the foundation for next-level, high-quality video content. The process also taught us that not all video content has to be about leads and conversions. With Skynamo, videos were a way to help them do what they already do in a more creative and time-effective manner.
Engine MHP + Mischief is a communications agency formed of two brands - corporate communications experts MHP and consumer specialists Mischief (both parts of the Engine Group).
Under lockdown, they faced two key issues. One is familiar to many companies operating under lockdown: how do you keep current clients and followers engaged while everyone is at home? The other was more specific to the company: how do you promote new reports, pitches, discussions and updates in a compelling and branded way online?
Blueprint Film produced a range of videos for Engine MHP + Mischief to engage audiences during the lockdown. MHP began running Lockdown Sessions, a series of interviews with existing clients held over zoom. We helped edit them into a series of short, engaging videos to keep clients and followers engaged while at home. The series was also a great way to take lessons from their clients and share them with others.
https://vimeo.com/427690074/f49cf79e36
Another way that we helped MHP with video were pitch videos. In much the same way B2C communications became more important over lockdown, so did B2B communications.
As the world moved online during the pandemic, so did pitch meetings with clients. Using presentations as a guide, we created short videos to communicate client-specific strategies that MHP could play during online pitch meetings. It proved to be an efficient way of getting everyone on the same page, providing clear information, and visualising data for clients.
For both Engine MHP and Mischief, we produced videos for report launches and other announcements.
For MHP's "A Networked Age Guide to Communicating in a Polarised World", we made an introduction video, alongside bits of social content to highlight the findings. Social clips were made for other communications, such as the 30 To Watch awards anniversary and Capital Markets leaderboard updates.
Over the past year, we have also created short graphical clips to celebrate MHP + Mischief’s recognition by multiple industry awards.
https://vimeo.com/504887617/96f657d5da
Working with Engine MHP + Mischief has illustrated the versatility of video content. The longer-form Lockdown Sessions became a successful and informative means of keeping people drawn to the company throughout the pandemic.
At the same time, video has been great at cutting up new reports into bite-size, compelling content on social, all while maintaining branding. It has also been a great way to visualise information to clients in online meetings.
Has your digital communications strategy been affected by lockdown? Let us know in the comments section or by tagging us on social media.
If you are curious about how video content can boost your business in lockdown and beyond, talk to us!
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